Pausing during a break at the Baptist World Alliance Annual Gathering in Mexico City, Wanda Lee, executive director of Woman's Missionary Union, graciously agreed to a brief interview.
She expressed gratitude and mild surprise that the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention spoke so definitively in what knowledgeable observers estimated to be a 2 to 1 vote in favor of rejecting the SBC Executive Committee's recommendation that the SBC invite the WMU to become an agency of the convention. Since its beginning in 1888, WMU has been a separate organization operating as an auxiliary to the convention.
She sees no long-term change for WMU as a result of the vote, except that she and the other WMU staff will now be able to concentrate on planning their work.
“For the past year, I have been available anytime someone from the Executive Committee wanted to talk. I answered questions, I wrote letters, I traveled to meetings — whatever they asked of me, I did.”
If the vote had carried, it would not have meant that WMU would have become a part of the SBC she emphasizes. “A positive vote would have meant that I would have had to spend another year like last year being available to the Executive Committee any time they had a question or needed me to meet with them. Now I can concentrate on other things.”
Asked whether she thinks the issue will surface again in the future, she said, “Historically, about every 10 years there is a push by somebody to get WMU to become a part of the SBC. I have made copies of the minutes from years past and can document the actions and responses taken. I imagine at some point the issue will resurface, but the messengers spoke very clearly.”
WMU's trustees have spoken clearly also. Made up of the presidents of state WMUs, the board members were polled prior to the convention meeting. At that time trustees overwhelmingly voiced their commitment to maintaining WMU's auxiliary status. “If we were to become an agency of the SBC, we would have to accept other assignments given to us and that would affect our mission. We have always been about missions — only about missions. That has been what drives us. And we have always supported groups that are doing missions.”
The language of the SBC Executive Committee's recommendation made it clear that in accepting the invitation to become a part of the SBC, WMU would operate exclusively within the SBC sphere.
“What would that do to our participation with the Baptist World Alliance?” she asked. “WMU gave birth to the women's work of the BWA. We are the mother of women's ministries among Baptists in many different parts of the world. We couldn't abandon them. How would that have looked?”
Remembering how the makeup of SBC boards changed during the resurgence/takeover, is she concerned that the process of selecting national WMU trustees could become politicized?
“That isn't likely because most state WMUs have nominating committees that nominate the state officers. I have no say whatsoever in who those persons are, but the ladies in the states have deep convictions about the mission of WMU. It would be very, very difficult for the process to be impacted for political purposes.”
With the vote behind them, she anticipates that the national WMU will respond with energy and creativity to the missions needs around the world.